Culture, Thought, and Social Action: An Anthropological Perspective

418 Pages·1985·8.85 MB·English

by  Stanley J. Tambiah

Culture, Thought, and Social Action

Culture, Thought,
and Social Action
An Anthropological Perspective
Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England 1985
Copyright © 1985 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
This book is printed on acid-free paper, and its binding
materials have been chosen for strength and durability.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja, 1929-
Culture, thought, and social action.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Rites and ceremonies. 2. Folk
classification. 3. Ethnophilosophy. I. Title.
GN473.T36 1985 306 84-27927
ISBN 0-674-17969-2 (alk. paper)
For Mary Wynne, Jonathan, and Matthew

Contents
Introduction From the General to the Particular and the
Construction of Totalities 1
1 Ritual as Thought and Action
1 The Magical Power of Words 17
2 Form and Meaning of Magical Acts 60
3 A Thai Cult of Healing through Meditation 87
4 A Performative Approach to Ritual 123
II Cosmologies and. Classifications as Thought and Action
5 Animals Are Good to Think and Good to Prohibit 169
6 From Varna to Caste through Mixed Unions 212
7 The Galactic Polity in Southeast Asia 252
8 On Flying Witches and Flying Canoes: The Coding of Male and
Female Values 287
9 A Reformulation of Geertz's Conception of the Theater
State 316
Conclusion An Anthropologist's Creed 339
References 361
Notes 376
Sources 405
Index 407

Culture, Thought, and Social Action